Alexander Mackendrick

Directing

Alexander Mackendrick

Born — Died

1912-09-08 — 1993-12-22

Place of birth

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

23 titles

Alexander Mackendrick (September 8, 1912 – December 22, 1993) was an American-born Scottish film director and screenwriter. He directed nine feature films between 1949 and 1967, before retiring from filmmaking to become an influential professor at the California Institute of the Arts. Born to Scottish immigrant parents in Boston, he was raised in Glasgow from the age of 6. He began making television commercials before moving into post-production editing and directing films, most notably for Ealing Studios where his films include Whisky Galore! (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951) - which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, The Maggie (1954), and The Ladykillers (1955). …

Known for

Sweet Smell of Success poster
7.6

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

Sweet Smell of Success

1957

The Ladykillers poster
7.3

Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.

The Ladykillers

1955

Don't Make Waves poster
5.2

Carlo Cofield vacations to Southern California, where he quickly becomes immersed in the easy-going local culture, getting entangled in two beachside romances.

Don't Make Waves

1967

Whisky Galore! poster
6.8

Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.

Whisky Galore!

1949

Mandy poster
7.1

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

Mandy

1952

Saraband for Dead Lovers poster
6.6

Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.

Saraband for Dead Lovers

1948

Film credits

Behind the camera

Sweet Smell of Success poster
7.6

New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.

Sweet Smell of Success

1957

The Ladykillers poster
7.3

Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.

The Ladykillers

1955

Don't Make Waves poster
5.2

Carlo Cofield vacations to Southern California, where he quickly becomes immersed in the easy-going local culture, getting entangled in two beachside romances.

Don't Make Waves

1967

Whisky Galore! poster
6.8

Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.

Whisky Galore!

1949

Mandy poster
7.1

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

Mandy

1952

Saraband for Dead Lovers poster
6.6

Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.

Saraband for Dead Lovers

1948

A High Wind in Jamaica poster
6.3

In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling, but their ship is taken over by pirates, who become fond of the kids.

A High Wind in Jamaica

1965

The Man in the White Suit poster
6.9

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...

The Man in the White Suit

1951

The Man in the White Suit poster
6.9

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...

The Man in the White Suit

1951

Sammy Going South poster
6.3

After he is orphaned by an air raid on Port Said during the Suez Crisis, a young boy attempts to go by himself from the Suez Canal to Durban in South Africa where his nearest relative, Aunt Jane, lives. On the way he meets a variety of different people who help or hinder his journey - including an ageing diamond smuggler.

Sammy Going South

1963

Dance Hall poster
6.1

Episodic tale of four factory girls and their various romances at the local dance hall in Chiswick, London. Unusual at the time, the film tells its story from a feminine perspective. Today, it is mainly recognised for its post-war London atmosphere, with bomb sites, trolleybuses and rationing.

Dance Hall

1950

The 'Maggie' poster
6.3

The poor, elderly—and the wily, when it comes to parting those who can afford it from their money—Scottish skipper of a broken-down old 'puffer' boat tricks an American tycoon into paying him to transport his personal cargo. When the tycoon learns of the trick, he attempts to track down the boat and remove his possessions.

The 'Maggie'

1954

Mackendrick on Film poster
8.0

Mackendrick on Film is an educational project constructed around the film teachings of legendary pedagogue Alexander Mackendrick. Taking as its starting point Mackendrick's body of written work contained in his book On Film-making: An introduction to the craft of the director, Mackendrick on Film is a structured 'illustrated lecture' that features never-before-seen footage of Mackendrick at work in the classrooms and studios of the California Institute of the Arts, new interviews with former students and colleagues, extracts from archived interviews with Mackendrick about his career as a teacher of cinema, rare photos, and a selection of his student handouts, storyboards and sketches.

Mackendrick on Film

2004

No artwork available
NR

A plea to the public to sort out metal objects from their waste paper.

Contraries

1943

Love on the Range poster
7.0

Animated cinema advertisement produced for Horlick's by George Pal.

Love on the Range

1939

No artwork available
NR

Ever seen a snake with a moustache? The Middle East was as much an ideological as a physical battleground in the Second World War. In the midst of the conflict Halas & Batchelor were commissioned by the British Government to make four cartoons featuring a young boy Abu and his mule. They were intended to demonstrate in simple visual terms that Britain was a stout friend and the Axis powers a pernicious evil.

Abu and the Poisoned Well

1943

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Abu's Dungeon

1943

South Sea Sweethearts poster
NR

Animated cinema advertisement produced for Horlick's by George Pal.

South Sea Sweethearts

1938